Dubai Global: Text-Book Attack

by Efstratios Grivas
5/8/2024 – Currently the ‘Dubai Police Global’ event that is being held in Dubai (03-13.05.2024), with a total of 361 players from 42 different countries – 37 from the UAE, 109 from India. Our friend and frequent new page contributor, international chess trainer GM Efstratios Grivas, is the lone Greek player. After a bad start, he played a very instructive game in Round 3, which he has extensively commented for us. You would do well to study his use of the Classical Attack.

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This is truly an international event: 37 players are from the United Arab Emirates, 2 each from Egypt, Nigeria and Zambia, 59 from Uzbekistan, 14 from Armenia, 5 from Russia, 1 from Ukraine (Ivanchuk!), 10 from the Philippines, 13 from China, 6 from the USA. And India? 109 players!

After a bad start, in the third round I was paired against a relatively unknown opponent. There is a good way to get a quick overview of the player. Clicking on "Players" to the right of the news page (if you have a ChessBase Account) or going to the ChessBase Players page https://players.chessbase.com provides an instant overview. You type in the name of your opponent, and within a second you get an overview:

In the Player Portrait you see his Elo development, his results, and how he has fared with different openings – the twenty most often played by him. Clicking on the link to each opening brings up the games, which you can replay and analyse.

During my pre-game preparation, I noticed that my opponent has a narrow repertoire, but but suited to his active style. I understood that he loves active piece play, and he is ready to accept worse pawn structures for that.

Well, after my disastrous start (0/2), I wasn’t willing to enter any tactical battle… I haven’t played standard time control chess for over 1½ year, and I was feeling quite rusty. Yes, I am a retired player, but still my love for chess makes me play from time to time, and I couldn’t resist to this strong open which is organised in the town that I live. Being number 90 by rating, wasn’t really what I could have expected, but nevertheless, I found it challenging! Here's my third round game:


Efstratios (30.03.1966) is a highly experienced chess trainer and chess author. He has been awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) the titles of International Chess Grandmaster, FIDE Senior Trainer, International Chess Arbiter and International Chess Organiser.
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